Animal Models for the Evaluation of the Cardiometabolic Therapeutic Potential of Traditional Chinese and Natural Product Medicines

There is considerable interest in the potential for Traditional Chinese Medicines and other natural products to be used directly or as a source of small chemical entities for the treatment of diabetes and its associated cardiovascular disease. Thus, what is required is animal models which reproduce the pathophysiology of diabetes and cardiovascular with high fidelity and which thus can be used to test or screen natural products. Such a comprehensive model does not exist in a single animal model. Furthermore, the pathophysiology of diabetes is more complex than can be reproduced comprehensively in an animal model and with respect to cardiovascular disease the pathology of disease in animal models does not reflect the development of atherosclerotic plaques in human arteries. This review addresses these issues and suggests that different animal models are required to separately address effects on hyperglycaemia and atherosclerosis. It is further addressed that the therapeutic environment for the development of medicines for the treatment of diabetes and cardiovascular disease has changed considerably in the last year. Successful clinical trials have demonstrated the benefits in terms of reduced cardiovascular events and reduced deaths from the use of sodium glucose cotransport 2 inhibitors and glucagon like peptide agonists and this was achieved with a reasonable degree of safety. These results set a new benchmark for the development of new drugs in this area. A sophisticated approach to the evaluation of natural products for the treatment of cardiometabolic disease will expedite the discovery and development of new medicines in an area that has an exploding global population of people with diabetes.